Vancouver Transit Ad Re-appropriation Project

We were just made aware of what sounds like a fantastic project run by Jerm IX and Vegas in Vancouver. It's a pretty simple idea, you send them artwork (standard formats) and a team of participants will put up your work in the Vancouver transit system. V-TARP, which stands for Vancouver Transit Ad Re-appropriation Project, "is intended to reclaim that highly sought after mindspace used by corporations to communicate with the public."

Participants are encouraged to send work in the next month to kick start the project with bang, but submissions will be taken indefinitely. I am told works should be 283mm high and any width from 200mm-800mm and should be submitted on 80lb. card stock. A photo document of your installed piece will be posted to a VTARP Flikr page, and once the project is rolling a blog page dedicated to the updates and progress will be rolled out. Any other questions you might have can be answered by a V-TARP participant at this email address. VanTARP@gmail.com.

We are always excited about a large scale work like this. We know it takes an immense coordinating effort and a good deal of risk taking for those carrying out the action. The upside is you can create a much bigger dialogue about who has the right to use public space in this way. While the actions of one person might be seen as that of a vigilante, the actions of many become a protest. because of this I think large scale projects like V-TARP encourage a conversation around the issue of commercial/public use of our shared environment. Questions about how using public space for commercial messaging might affect the public's use of that space become something to talk about, and that can only bring good as far as I am concerned.

We will definitely be sending work to Vancouver and suggest you do the same. They have told me they can handle a large number of submissions and that the project is open to everyone. If you do decide to send something, feel free to give us sneak peaks of your works and tell us when they have gone up in Vancouver.